Men vs. Women
By Lakshna, age 17, United Arab Emirates
If, for example, the girl has issues with an ex-boyfriend, it's always the current boyfriend who becomes the knight in shining armour.
If the girl has money troubles, her guy bails her out.
If she needs a "shoulder to cry on", he's there for her.
If she finds out about something "dark in his past", she slaps him and goes, "You betrayed me and our love. How could you? I trusted you, more than anyone else in my entire life," and so on.
It's always the guy reassuring her that she can do it (whatever 'it' is).
(And other such tragic tales.)
What about the other way around? Why don't we ever get to hear stories of the damsel in shining armour? It would be nice to know that ladies are not just the fairer and weaker sex, the damsels in distress. Sure, there's the whole "women can do anything men can - in high heels too," but really, when it comes to the basics, does this even hold true? And if it does, why don't people hear of it? Why aren't there stories, songs, movies, and so on, about it?
The reason why I think it's mostly the girls who need the warrior beside them is because they are unsure of themselves. And because it's probably in their nature to take things in stride, so they don't really fight the demons in their world, and hence it's the other gender who does all the sword-jabbing and fist-talking. These girls live by the mantra: "It was meant to happen (to me), so it did, and there's no use fighting it".
Har har.
My mum was watching a soap opera on TV the other day, and I entered the room when the following scene was taking place onscreen:
There was a pretty, well-dressed young lady standing next to a harassed looking woman, talking to a congregation of women standing around them. There were also a few men in the background. The pretty lady was addressing the crowd around her on domestic violence. In summary, this is what she said:
"A woman doesn't stand up for herself when she is abused at home because she is worried about how society will perceive her family if word got out. She takes every kind of torture, verbal or physical, and endures it ceaselessly till the end, either of her life or her stay in that house. And she does it all simply because she wants to keep up whatever good opinion society has of the family she is associated with. If a woman, who is subjected to this kind of abuse, stands up for herself or even tries to, she is put down. The sad part is, she's put down not only by the (dominant) men, but also by the women around her. Generally speaking, if one woman is enduring in silence, everyone should. They can't speak up for themselves even if they want to, simply because they are women and are supposed to endure in silence. But instead of just taking everything in stride, if we stand up for ourselves, or support those who do, then no one would persecute us."
I guess my real issue is, why don't women stand up for what they want and believe in what they know to be right? Yes, we do have some strong women who rise against the odds, against all adversities. But they are few and far between. We're still the weaker sex, despite whatever the feminists say about being able to "do whatever men can do, and in high heels."
